Laura Gonzalez, Spring 2009 Assistant Managing Editor
A dedicated group of professors at Pierce College have devoted their time and knowledge to figuring out a way to replace lawns on campus with drought-tolerant plants in order to save water.
Biology professors Kate Kubach and Pat Farris, as well as department-chair Dr. James Rikel, created the plan which is now being implemented by the college as new construction takes place.
“The college is little by little putting this in practice when they are putting new buildings or redoing an area,” Kubach said. “If there was lawn there in the original area, it gets replaced by drought-tolerant plants.”
For this project, it is necessary to have the funds available which will be a reality if Proposition J is approved by LACCD voters in the upcoming Nov 4. election.
“If Proposition J passes then it will give us the rest of the money to complete the landscape master plan, so we’ll see more of the lawns removed at that point,” Rikel said.
The shortage of fresh water in the world will be imminent if enough precautions do not start to take place. According to the U.N., more than 2.7 billion people will face severe shortages of fresh water by 2025 if the world keeps consuming water at today’s rate and about 5 billion people will be living in areas where it will be difficult or impossible to meet all their needs for fresh water.
“The use of lawns in the environment that we live in requires an enormous amount of water and if we are running short on water, we need to take a look at things that consume the most,” Rikel said. “Most households’ lawns represent the majority of water usage, so the idea is to remove the lawns where they are not there for a particular function, like a sport, and replace them with plants that require a lot less water. Sometimes as little as 10 to 20 percent of the water that a lawn would take.”
Drought-tolerant plants, including acacia, aloe, eucalyptus and lantana, can survive in arid environments like California’s with small amounts of water. The Web site of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works urges people to switch to these kinds of plants in order to conserve the world’s water resources.
“All of the plants that we put out there are plants that are found in Mediterranean regions, like here in Southern California, where they are adapted to periods where it is very hot and dry and very little water is available,” Kubach said. “By putting these kinds of plants into the garden, we actually have long periods of time where they’re drought-tolerant and don’t need to be watered.
“It saves a great deal of water on this campus compared to grasses which need to be watered all the time and are very thirsty plants,” she said.
The professors also teach in their classes the importance of saving water to create awareness within the students, but they also agreed that the college has the responsibility of showing students the steps necessary to save the planet.
“The college, through its curriculum, should lead the students to this,” Rikel said. “(Students) are here to learn and we should be providing education that is modern to the current issues that will face our students in the future.
“This is a big one because the population has exceeded the available resources in most of the world, and we are running short on this part of the world too,” she said.
More information including tips for conserving are is available at www.ladpw.org/wwd/web/conserve.cfm.
The drought-tolerant plants found in the Botanical Garden may set an example for the types of plants found around campus once renovations are made. ()